Efficient cyclic prefix generation with half tone offset

ABSTRACT

Half tone offset may be utilized to mitigate signal distortion caused by DC bias within OFDM-based systems. In addition a cyclic prefix may be utilized within an OFDM-based system to mitigate inter-symbol-interference. Presented herein are techniques and methods to efficiently apply a cyclic prefix to an OFDM symbol with a half tone offset.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/781,908, filed on Feb. 4, 2020, entitled “Efficient Cyclic PrefixGeneration With Half Tone Offset,” which application is a continuationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/236,003, filed on Dec. 28, 2018,entitled “Efficient Cyclic Prefix Generation With Half Tone Offset,” nowU.S. Pat. No. 10,574,503, issued on Feb. 25, 2020, the disclosures ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for allpurposes.

BACKGROUND

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a widely usedmethod of encoding data utilizing multiple frequencies. Several othercommunication systems and techniques are based on the principals of OFDMsuch as, Long Term Evolution (LTE), Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiple Access (OFDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division MultipleAccess (SC-FDMA, also known as Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) SpreadOFDM), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), and 5^(th) generation(5G) cellular mobile communications. Although OFDM has remained widelypopular, its efficiency is hindered within direct conversion (i.e., zeroIF) by direct current (DC) bias due to local oscillator (LO) leakage. Ahalf tone offset (shift) was introduced to minimize the DC bias.However, implementation of the half tone offset greatly increasescomputational requirements and processes of transceivers implementingOFDM with half tone offset. Thus, there is a need, within signalprocessing technology, to reduce the computational burden of applying ahalf tone offset within OFDM and OFDM-based systems.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Systems, methods, and techniques provided herein generally relate toefficient cyclic prefix generation with half tone offset withinOFDM-based systems. In one embodiment, a method is provided comprisingreceiving a symbol waveform associated with one or more subcarriers. Insome embodiments, each subcarrier of the one or more subcarriers isassociated with a first frequency. The method may further compriseidentifying a last portion of the symbol waveform. The method mayfurther comprise modifying, by applying a half tone offset, a secondfrequency associated with symbol waveform to generate a frequencyshifted symbol waveform. The method may further comprise, in response togenerating the frequency shifted symbol waveform, inverting a sign ofthe last portion of the symbol waveform to generate an inverted portion.The method may further comprise prepending the inverted portion to thefrequency shifted symbol waveform to generate an output signal. Themethod may further comprise transmitting, to a receiving device, theoutput signal.

In some embodiments, the method may further comprise generating, basedat least in part on an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform, the symbolwaveform.

In some embodiments, the second frequency is a center frequency of thesymbol waveform. In some embodiments, the symbol waveform comprises asample length of x and the last portion comprises a sample length of y,wherein x is a positive integer and y is a positive integer that is lessthan x. In one embodiment, the output signal comprises a sample lengthof x and the inverted portion comprises a sample lengthy, wherein theinverted portion is prepended to the sample portion length of x and x isa positive integer and y is a positive integer that is less than x.

In some embodiments, the symbol waveform is an orthogonal frequencydivision multiplexing symbol waveform or a single carrier frequencydivisional multiple access symbol waveform. In some embodiments, whereinthe receiving device is a sensor within a narrow band Internet of Thingssystem.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Features, embodiments, and advantages of the present disclosure arebetter understood when the following Detailed Description is read withreference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example block diagram of an OFDM-based system inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 3A depicts an example first implementation of a cyclic prefixwithin an OFDM-based system in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 3B depicts an example second implementation of a cyclic prefixwithin OFDM-based system in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 4A depicts an example process for efficient cyclic prefixgeneration in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 4B depicts an example process for efficient cyclic prefixgeneration in accordance with one or more embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofcertain inventive embodiments. However, it will be apparent that variousembodiments may be practiced without these specific details. The figuresand description are not intended to be restrictive. The word “exemplary”is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, orillustration”. Any embodiment or design described herein as “exemplary”is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous overother embodiments or designs.

The present disclosure generally relates to techniques for improving theefficiency of OFDM-based systems. More specifically, the presentdisclosure discloses techniques for efficient generation of cyclicprefixes in OFDM-based systems that implement a half tone offset.OFDM-based systems may be any system that utilizes the concepts of OFDM(e.g., LTE, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, NB-IoT, 5G cellular mobile communications,and the like). OFDM-based systems may utilize a plurality of subcarriers(e.g. carrier waves) to transmit data. In addition, many OFDM-basedsystems may use a direct conversion architecture. However, althoughdirect conversions offers low cost and low power consumption as comparedto traditional super heterodyne architectures, direct conversion alsointroduces DC bias due to LO leakage. This DC bias may introduce noiseand distort a center subcarrier within an OFDM-based system. As aresult, unsuppressed DC bias may significantly distort OFDM signals andincrease symbol error rate (SER) within OFDM-based systems. To counterissues arising from DC bias, OFDM-based systems may implement a halftone offset (i.e. half of a carrier spacing) to minimize the DC biaseffect and allow full use of all subcarriers (i.e. DC subcarrier) fordata transmission.

Another issue that may arise in OFDM-based systems isinter-symbol-interference (ISI). ISI may occur when a symbol affectsanother symbol due to a multi-channel path. In OFDM-based systems,multiple bits may be transmitted in a single symbol in parallel overmultiple subcarriers. As symbols are transmitted to a receiver, the pathfrom transmitter to receiver may introduce a delay spread in the timedomain. This delay may result in one or more symbols being spread out(e.g., by multi-path fading) and may cause interfere with other symbols,which causes ISI. ISI may be mitigated by prepending a cyclic prefix(CP) onto each symbol. To implement a CP, after a symbol is formed, alast portion of the symbol may be copied and then prepended to thesymbol. In one embodiment, the length of the CP may vary and be longerthan a delay spread associated with a communication path (e.g., the pathbetween a transmitter and receiver) in order to reduce ISI.

In a first type OFDM-based systems, the CP is prepended to a symbol andthen the half tone offset is applied to the symbol. Application of ahalf tone offset may require complex operations (e.g., multiplicationsand additions) to modify the center carrier frequency of the symbol.Application of a half tone offset may be computationally expensive andthe expense is proportional to the size of the CP. For example, supposethere is a symbol with that comprises of N samples with N being thenumber of subcarriers in an OFDM-based system. The CP may be a fractionor percentage of the N samples, such as, 7.25%. As a result, the symbolwith CP is now 7.25% larger and the half tone offset is then applied tothis larger symbol. However, according to one or more embodiments withinthis disclosure, the computational complexities with including a CP maybe reduced and thus computational expenses associated with CP may bereduced.

A different method for implementing CP in OFDM-based systems may includereceiving a symbol comprising of N samples and instead of initiallygenerating a CP of the symbol, the half tone offset is applied to thesymbol to generate a half tone frequency shifted symbol without a CP.Next, the CP is generated by copying a fraction or percentage of thehalf tone frequency shifted symbol. Then the CP is inverted andprepended to the half tone frequency shifted symbol. As a result, thecomplex processes required to apply the half tone offset are performedon a symbol comprising N samples instead of a symbol comprising Nsamples and a CP. This change in processing may reduce the computationalcomplexity involved with implementing both CP for ISI reduction and halftone offset for signal distortion reduction.

FIG. 1 depicts a simplified network 100 for implementing one or moreembodiments. Network 100 comprises devices 102A-102F coupled to eachother via network connection 104. Network 100 may be a NB-IoT network,an LTE network, or any other network where devices are coupled to eachother via a network connection. Devices 102A-102F may be implemented asmobile devices, cellular phones, smart phones, sensors affixed tomachinery, base stations, satellites, televisions, smart televisions,speakers, smart speakers, wearables, appliances (e.g., washer,refrigerator, oven, etc.), meters, security systems, smart citytechnologies (e.g., devices that monitor traffic and weatherconditions), thermostats, lighting devices (e.g., light bulbs), vehicles(e.g., cars, trucks, etc.), commercial vehicles, and the like. In oneembodiment, devices 102A-102F may be implemented by different devices.For example device, 102A may be a smart phone and device 102B may be asmart TV. In one embodiment, devices 102A-102F may be part of anecosystem. For example, device 102A may be a sensor at a first lightwithin a smart city, device 102B may be a sensor at a second lightwithin the smart city, device 102C may be a sensor associated with afirst autonomous vehicle within the smart city, device 102D may be asensor associated with a second autonomous vehicle within the smartcity, and device 102E may be processing device, such as a microprocessoror FPGA, that controls a cross walk signal within the smart city. In oneembodiment, one or more of devices 102A-102F may be low power devices.For example, many different types of sensors may be low power devices.In such an example, devices 102A-102F may be low power sensorsassociated with a supply chain or manufacturing process where each oneof devices 102A-102F is associated with a different aspect or processwithin a supply chain or manufacturing process.

Devices 102A-102F may comprise one or more processors and non-volatilememory resources. The processor(s) may include single, multicoreprocessors, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC). Theprocessor(s) may include general purpose microprocessors such as onesprovided by Intel®, AMD®, ARM®, Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., and thelike, that operate under the control of software stored in associatedmemory. The non-volatile memory resources may store one or more programsthat may be executed by the processor(s) to implement one or moreembodiments described. In one embodiment, the processor(s) may be a partof a modulator within a transmitting device.

Network connection 104 may facilitate communications between devices102A-102F. Network connection 104 may be one implemented by variousnetwork types and can include, for example, the Internet, a wide areanetwork (WAN), a local area network (LAN), an Ethernet network, a publicor private network, a wired network, a wireless network, and the like,and combinations thereof. Network connection 104 may also be implementedvia one or more low power networks, such as, low power wide area network(LPWAN). Network connection 104 may utilize different communicationprotocols that may be used to facilitate the communications includingboth wired and wireless protocols such as IEEE 802.XX suite ofprotocols, TCP/IP, IPX, SAN, Bluetooth®, Low power Bluetooth®, Zigbee,Zwave, Chirp spread spectrum based protocols, Ultra-narrow band basedprotocols, such as, NB-Fi, and other protocols.

FIG. 2 depicts a simplified OFDM-based transmitter block diagram 200.OFDM-based transmitter block diagram 200 may comprise processesimplemented by a transmitter of data. A transmitter of data may be oneor more devices communicatively coupled to another device that isconfigured to receive transmitted data. For example, a transmitter ofdata may be a base station associated with a cellular network, asatellite, a mobile device, a smart phone, a device end for a returnlink, and the like. OFDM-based transmitter block diagram 200 comprisesforward error correction (FEC) encoder 202, modulator 204, serial toparallel converter 206, inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) 208,parallel to serial converter 210, cyclic prefix 212, and digital toanalog converter/RF converter 214. Each component of OFDM-basedtransmitter block diagram 200 may be implemented by a hardware componentcapable of performing one or more operations associated with thatcomponent. For example, FEC encoder 202 may be implemented by aprocessor capable of performing FEC encoding. In one embodiment, eachcomponent of OFDM-based transmitter block diagram 200 may be implementedby a software component capable of performing one or more operationsassociated with that component. For example, IFFT 208, may beimplemented by software stored in computer-readable memory and when thesoftware is executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform aninverse fast Fourier transformation on one or more datasets.

FEC encoder 202 receives digital data (in the form of bits) and encodesredundancy data into the digital data. The digital data may be receivedby one or more data sources. A data source may be a mobile device, asensor, a content provider, and the like. The digital data may be videodata, audio data, sensor data, bit streams, and the like. By introducingredundancy data into the received digital data the digital data maycontain error correcting code. The redundancy data allows a receiver ofdata to detect a number of errors that may occur without requiring theretransmission of data.

Modulator 204 may be a digital modulation process for converting digitaldata (received from FEC encoder 202) into symbols using one or moremodulation schemes, such as, quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK),quadrature amplitude modulator (QAM), binary phase shift keying (BPSK),and the like, and/or any combination of one or more modulation schemes.Each generated symbol may represent one or more bits of data of thedigital data.

Serial to parallel converter 206 may take, as an input, symbols frommodulator 204 and mix one or more symbols with one or more subcarriers(i.e. subcarrier frequencies) by modifying the amplitude and phase ofthe subcarrier. For SC-FDMA (i.e., DFT-Spread OFDM), this process may berealized by use of DFT. Each subcarrier may be a waveform at a differentfrequency. For example, there may be four subcarriers, each operating ata different frequency (e.g., 0 kHz, 15 kHz, 30 kHz, and 45 kHz). Bymodifying a subcarrier with one or more symbols, a representation of thedigital data received from FEC encoder 202 may be encoded into asubcarrier as a function of frequency.

IFFT 208 may take as inputs, the modified subcarriers produced by serialto parallel converter 206 and perform inverse fast Fouriertransformations on the inputs to convert the inputs from the frequencydomain to the time domain. IFFT 208 may receive N inputs and output Nwaveforms (i.e. N samples). N may be a variable that represents a numberof subcarriers. For example, if Nis equal to 20 then IFFT 208 may accept20 inputs and there are 20 total subcarriers. In one embodiment, not allsubcarriers may be utilized to transmit data. In such an embodiment, oneor more subcarriers may be utilized for channel estimation/equalizationand/or guard bands. The N waveforms output from IFFT 208 may besinusoidal waveforms. The N waveforms may represent the receivedmodified subcarriers within the time domain.

Parallel to serial converter 210 may receive, as inputs, the N waveformsfrom IFFT 208 and combine the waveforms into a single waveform. In oneembodiment, a parallel to serial conversion may be done, at least inpart, by adding the N waveforms (each with different frequencies)together to get a single waveform. This single waveform may be referredto as an OFDM symbol, OFDM signal, OFDM symbol waveform, OFDM waveform,and the like.

Cyclic prefix 212 may receive, as an input, an OFDM symbol from parallelto serial converter 210 and may prepend a cyclic prefix to the OFDMsymbol. The cyclic prefix may be a portion of the end of the OFDMsymbol. For example, a cyclic prefix may be the last eighth, sixth,fourth, tenth, and the like portion of the OFDM symbol. Once the cyclicprefix is determined it is prepended to the OFDM symbol. The cyclicprefix may be determined based on an underlying OFDM-based communicationsystem and a delay period for a channel of communication between atransmitter and receiver. For example, in one iteration of LTE a cyclicprefix may comprise 160 samples of an OFDM symbol and the OFDM symbolmay have a total length of 2208 samples. Thus, the cyclic prefix is7.25% of the total OFDM symbol length. The following table (Table 1)illustrates exemplary cyclic prefix sizes compared to OFDM symbol size.

TABLE 1 CP duration of OFDM based waveforms in LTE, NB-IoT, and 5G # ofCP Total # of Fraction of CP Physical samples in a samples in a samplesin a Channels Formats symbol symbol symbol PUSCH With normal cyclicprefix 160 2208 7.25% (Physical Uplink (symbol index = 0 in a slot)Shared Channel) With normal cyclic prefix 144 2192 6.57% (symbol index =1, . . . , 6 in a slot) With extended cyclic prefix 512 2560 20.00%NRACH Format 0 2048 40960 5.00% (Narrowband Format 1 8192 40960 20.00%Physical Random Access Channel)As a result, the cyclic prefix may be used to prevent ISI, but may alsoincrease the size of a OFDM symbol which may in turn reduce the datarate of a transmission of the OFDM symbol.

Digital to analog converter/radio frequency (RF) converter 214 mayreceive, as an input, the OFDM symbol (with the cyclic prefix) and mayconvert the OFDM symbol into a RF transmission such that the OFDM symbolmay be transmitted over a radio frequency and by a radio frequencyreceiver.

FIG. 3A discloses an exemplary first block diagram for implementing afirst process 300A for implementing a cyclic prefix and half tone offsetwithin a OFDM-based system. At a first time, OFDM symbol 302A includesset of samples 304A. Set of samples 304A may be a portion of OFDM symbol302A. For example, OFDM symbol 302A may comprise 2048 samples and set ofsamples 304A may comprise the last 160 symbols. At a second time, whichis after the first time, set of samples 304A is duplicated and prependedto OFDM symbol 302A to form cyclic prefix 306A. For example, OFDM symbol302A may now comprise 2048 samples+160 samples (from prepended cyclicprefix 306A). At a third time, which is after the second time, half toneoffset 308 is applied to OFDM symbol 302A (which includes the prependedcyclic prefix 306A). In one embodiment, applying half tone offset 308 toOFDM symbol 302A may comprise a plurality of complex multiplication andaddition operations. As a result of applying half tone offset 309 toOFDM symbol 302A, carrier spacing associated with OFDM symbol 302A isshifted to avoid signal distortion. At a fourth time, which is after thethird time, as a result of the application of half tone offset 308 toOFDM symbol 302A, shifted OFDM symbol 302B is generated. Shifted OFDMsymbol 302B may be a half tone frequency shifted version of OFDM symbol302A. Shifted OFDM symbol 302B may comprise a prepended shifted cyclicprefix 306B which may be a half tone frequency shifted version of cyclicprefix 306A.

In FIG. 3A, signal distortion is mitigated by the use of the half toneoffset and ISI is mitigated by the use of a cyclic prefix. However, thecyclic prefix is prepended to a OFDM symbol prior to the OFDM symbolbeing shifted by the half tone offset. As a result, the complexmathematical process of applying a half tone offset is performed on alarger OFDM symbol. As a result, first process 300A signal distortionand ISI, but at the cost of more complex processing and slowertransmission speed of an OFDM symbol.

FIG. 3B discloses an exemplary second block diagram for implementing asecond process 300B for implementing a cyclic prefix and half toneoffset within a OFDM-based system. At a first time, OFDM symbol 310Aincludes set of samples 312A. Set of samples 312A may be a portion ofOFDM symbol 310A. For example, OFDM symbol 310A may comprise 2048samples and set of samples 312A may comprise the last 160 symbols. At asecond time, which is after the first time, half tone offset 308 isapplied to OFDM symbol 310A. In one embodiment, applying half toneoffset 308 to OFDM symbol 310A may comprise a plurality of complexmultiplication and addition operations. As a result of applying halftone offset 308 to OFDM symbol 310A, carrier spacing associated withOFDM symbol 310A is shifted to avoid signal distortion. At a third time,which is after the second time, as a result of the application of halftone offset 308 to OFDM symbol 310A, shifted OFDM symbol 310B isgenerated. Shifted OFDM symbol 310B may be a half tone frequency shiftedversion of OFDM symbol 310A. Shifted OFDM symbol 310B may comprise ashifted set of samples 312B which may be a half tone frequency shiftedversion of set of samples 312A. At a fourth time, which is after thethird time, inverse function 314 is applied to set of samples 312B togenerate cyclic prefix 316. Cyclic prefix 316 is then prepended toshifted OFDM symbol 310B. In one embodiment, inverse function 314 maymultiply set of samples 312B by the value −1 to generate cyclic prefix316.

In FIG. 3B, signal distortion is mitigated by the use of the half toneoffset and ISI is mitigated by the use of a cyclic prefix. However, aninverse of a set of samples is prepended to a OFDM symbol after the OFDMsymbol has been shifted by the half tone offset. As a result, thecomplex mathematical process of applying a half tone offset is performedfor a smaller OFDM symbol. As a result, second process 300B mitigatessignal distortion and ISI, but does not require the complex processingassociated with a half tone offset to be applied to a larger OFDMsymbol, as required in first process 300A. As a result, second process300B in comparison to first process 300A, reduces the computationalprocessing (e.g., complexity) utilized to create a OFDM symbol. Areduction in computational processing may also lead to a reduction inpower requirements of transceivers within an OFDM-based system, whichmay increase battery life and low-power usage of transceivers.Furthermore, a reduction in computational processing may lead to lessphysical devices (e.g., logic gates) within a processing device that isresponsible for performing said computational processes.

Computational processing reduction may be identified by the followingmathematical formula:

${{Complexity}\mspace{14mu}{reduction}\mspace{14mu}(\%)} = {{\frac{{number}\mspace{14mu}{of}\mspace{14mu}{CP}\mspace{14mu}{samples}\mspace{14mu}{in}\mspace{14mu}{the}\mspace{14mu}{symbol}}{{Total}\mspace{14mu}{number}\mspace{14mu}{of}\mspace{14mu}{samples}\mspace{14mu}{in}\mspace{14mu}{the}\mspace{14mu}{symbol}} \times 100} = {\frac{N_{cp}}{N + N_{cp}} \times 100.}}$

N_(cp) may be the number of CP samples in the symbol and N may be thenumber of samples in the symbol (i.e., sample prior to adding CP).

Furthermore, Table 2 lists the cyclic prefix duration of some physicalchannels used in the LTE, NB-IoT, and 5G systems and shows exemplarycomplexity reduction associated with utilizing second process 300B.

TABLE 2 CP duration of OFDM based waveforms in LTE, NB-IoT, and 5G # ofCP Total # of Fraction of CP Physical samples in a samples in a samplesin a Complexity Channels Formats symbol symbol symbol Reduction PUSCHWith normal cyclic prefix 160 2208 7.25% 7.25% (Physical Uplink (symbolindex = 0 in a slot) Shared Channel) With normal cyclic prefix 144 21926.57% 6.57% (symbol index = 1, . . . , 6 in a slot) With extended cyclicprefix 512 2560 20.00% 20.00% NRACH Format 0 2048 40960 5.00% 5.00%(Narrowband Format 1 8192 40960 20.00% 20.00% Physical Random AccessChannel)

With second process 300B, the complexity reduction can be as high as 20%(in the shown examples within Table 2). The percentage of complexityreduction increases for systems that require a large cyclic prefixduration. A large cyclic prefix duration may occur in wide areacommunications. For example, terrestrial systems with a cell tower inrural areas or satellite communication systems with a wide-beam wherethe delay spread across devices in the coverage area is large.

The subsequent sections describe a mathematical derivation of secondprocess 300B. First, the mathematics of prepending a cyclic prefix to anOFDM symbol without half tone shift are explained. Second, themathematics of prepending a cyclic prefix to an OFDM symbol with halftone shift are explained. Third, the relationship between samples (e.g.,samples output from an IFFT) with and without half shift are comparedfor minimizing cyclic prefix complexity.

Notations

x(k): input samples to the N-point IFFT. These samples representmodulated symbols in frequency domain.

y(n): output of the N-point IFFT. These samples represent multiplexedsubcarriers in time domain.

y(n): half tone frequency shifted samples of y(n) in time domain.

OFDM Signal with No Half Tone Shift

A transmitter converts the frequency domain samples, x(k), using N-pointIFFT (N being the number of subcarriers), as:

$\begin{matrix}{{{y(n)} = {\sum\limits_{k}{{x(k)}\exp\left\{ {j\; 2\pi\frac{k}{N}n} \right\}}}},{n = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{N - 1}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

and constructs the OFDM symbol by adding last N_(CP) samples in thebeginning such that the transmit samples in the symbol are

[y(N−N_(CP)), . . . ,y(N−1),y(0),y(1), . . . y(N−1)]  (2)

Due to the circular property of the IFFT, y(n) is modular in N. i.e.,y(−1)=y(N−1) and y(N+1)=y(1).

If we enumerate (1) over n beyond N, we obtain the following sequence:

y(0), . . . ,y(N−1),y(N), . . . y(2N−1),y(2N), . . . y(3N−1)  (3)

Again, due to the circular property, the above sequence is same as:

y(0), . . . ,y(N−1),y(0), . . . y(N−1),y(0), . . . y(N−1)  (4)

OFDM Signal with the Half Tone Shift

In the presence of half tone shift, (1) should be modified as:

$\begin{matrix}{{{\overset{\_}{y}(n)} = {\sum\limits_{k}{{x(k)}\exp\left\{ {2\pi\; j\frac{k + 0.5}{N}n} \right\}}}},{n = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{N - 1}} & (5)\end{matrix}$

The half tone shift (i.e.

$\left. {\exp\left( {j\; 2\pi\frac{0.5}{N}n} \right)} \right)$

introduces a time varying phase as noted in the last term of thefollowing equation:

$\begin{matrix}{{{\overset{\_}{y}(n)} = {\left\lbrack {\sum\limits_{k}{{x(k)}\exp\left\{ {j\; 2\pi\frac{k}{N}n} \right\}}} \right\rbrack{\exp\left( {j\; 2\pi\frac{0.5}{N}n} \right)}}},{n = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{N - 1}} & (6)\end{matrix}$

Noting that the term in the bracket in (6) is the same as y(n) in (1),we can rewrite (6) as:

$\begin{matrix}{{{\overset{\_}{y}(n)} = {{y(n)} \cdot {\exp\left( {j\; 2\pi\frac{0.5}{N}n} \right)}}},{n = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{N - 1}} & (7)\end{matrix}$

However, due to the time varying phase term,

${\exp\left( {j\; 2\pi\frac{0.5}{N}n} \right)},$

the circular property in y(n) is not the same as that of y(N). Forexample, y(N)≠y(2N) as shown below:

$\begin{matrix}\begin{matrix}{{\overset{\_}{y}(N)} = {{{y(N)} \cdot {\exp\left( {j\;\pi} \right)}} = {{{y(0)} \cdot {\exp\left( {j\;\pi} \right)}} = {{{\overset{\_}{y}(0)} \cdot {\exp\left( {j\;\pi} \right)}} = {- {\overset{\_}{y}(n)}}}}}} \\\begin{matrix}{{\overset{\_}{y}\left( {N + 1} \right)} = {{{{y\left( {N + 1} \right)} \cdot \exp}\left( {j\;{\pi\left( {1 + \frac{1}{N}} \right)}} \right)} =}} \\{{y{(1) \cdot {\exp\left( {j\;\pi\frac{1}{N}} \right)}}{\exp\left( {j\;\pi} \right)}} = {{{\overset{\_}{y}(1)} \cdot {\exp\left( {j\;\pi} \right)}} = {- {\overset{\_}{y}(1)}}}}\end{matrix} \\\vdots \\{{\overset{\_}{y}\left( {2N} \right)} = {{{y\left( {2N} \right)} \cdot {\exp\left( {j\; 2\pi} \right)}} = {{{y(0)} \cdot {\exp\left( {j\; 2\pi} \right)}} = {\overset{\_}{y}(0)}}}} \\{{\overset{\_}{y}\left( {{2N} + 1} \right)} = {{{y\left( {2N} \right)} \cdot {\exp\left( {j\;{\pi\left( {2 + \frac{1}{N}} \right)}} \right)}} = {{{y(1)} \cdot {\exp\left( {j\;\pi\frac{1}{N}} \right)}} = {\overset{\_}{y}(1)}}}}\end{matrix} & (8)\end{matrix}$

Similar to (3), if we enumerate (5) over n beyond N, we obtain thefollowing sequence:

y(0), . . . ,y(N−1),y(N), . . . y(2N−1),y(2N), . . . y(3N−1)  (9)

The Relationship Between the CP Prepended OFDM Samples with and withoutHalf Tone Offset

Due to the difference in circular property as described in (8), thesequence in (9) is now:

y(0), . . . ,y(N−1),−y(0), . . . ,−y(N−1),y(0), . . . ,y(N−1)  (10)

which is different from the following sequence which has a modularperiod of N.

y(0), . . . ,y(N−1),y(0), . . . ,y(N−1),y(0), . . . ,y(N−1)  (11)

Thus the CP portion includes the sign inverted samples of the lastN_(CP) samples at the beginning and (2) should be modified as followswhen the half tone frequency shift is introduced

[−y(N−N_(CP)), . . . ,−y(N−1),y(0),y(1), . . . y(N−1)]  (12)

The simple mathematical expression shown in (12) enables low complexityimplementation of center frequency shift, eliminating the need forcomplex multiplication over CP samples involved in the half tonefrequency shift. The realization of efficient implementation (e.g.,reduction in complexity) has been previously described, above, in Table2.

FIGS. 4A-4B illustrate simplified process 400 for efficient cyclicprefix generation with half tone offset. One or more aspects of process400 may be performed by a transmission device. A transmission device maybe a device capable of transmitting radio frequency communications ordigital communications to receiving devices over a network. At 405, atransmission device receives a stream of bits. The stream of bits may bereceived from one or more data sources, such as a content provider, asensor, a mobile device, and the like.

At 410, the transmission device modulates the stream of bits to generatesymbols representative of the stream of bits. The modulation may be aprocess for converting digital data into symbols using one or moremodulation schemes, such as, quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK),quadrature amplitude modulator (QAM), binary phase shift keying (BPSK),and the like, and/or any combination of one or more modulation schemes.Each generated symbol may represent one or more bits of data of thestream of bits.

At 415, the transmission device modifies, based on the generatedsymbols, a plurality of subcarriers. A subcarrier may be modified byaltering the amplitude and/or phase of the subcarrier. Each subcarriermay be a waveform operating at a different frequency. By modifying asubcarrier with one or more symbols, a representation of the stream ofbits received at 405 may be encoded into a subcarrier as a function offrequency. For SC-FDMA (i.e., DFT-Spread OFDM), this process may berealized by use of DFT.

At 420, the transmission device coverts the modified subcarriers from afrequency domain to a time domain. The transmission device may implementan IFFT that takes as input the modified subcarriers and performs aninverse fast Fourier transformation on the subcarriers to convert thesubcarriers to the time domain. The output of the IFFT may be acorresponding waveform (in the time domain) for each modifiedsubcarrier. Each waveform may be referred to as a sample.

At 425, the transmission device generates, based on IFFT producedwaveforms (time domain modified subcarriers), an OFDM symbol. In oneembodiment the produced waveforms at 420 may be summed together to forma single waveform and this single waveform may be the OFDM symbol. Thus,the OFDM symbol can be a single waveform that contains all samplesgenerated by the IFFT at 420 and the OFDM symbol may further indicate aplurality of encoded data within multiple subcarriers.

At 430, the transmission device identifies a group of samples within aportion of the OFDM symbol. The group of samples may be an end portionof samples of the OFDM symbol. In one embodiment, the length of thegroup of samples is equal or greater than the length of a delay periodfor a channel of communication between the transmission device and areceiving device. In one embodiment, the group of samples may comprisethe last 1/16 of the samples of an OFDM symbol, the last ⅛ samples of anOFDM symbol, the last ¼ of the samples of the OFDM symbol, the last78/1000 of the samples of the OFDM symbol, and the like. In oneembodiment, the term “last” may mean last a function of time, such thelast portion of OFDM symbol refers to a portion of the OFDM that occurslast in time.

At 435, the transmission device applies a half tone offset to the OFDMsymbol to generate a shifted OFDM symbol. A half tone offset may shiftthe center frequency of the OFDM symbol so that the OFDM symbol is notcentered on the center subcarrier (i.e. 0 Hz subcarrier). Because thecenter frequency of the OFDM symbol is shifted each subcarrier withinrepresented within the OFDM symbol is also shifted. In one embodiment,the half tone offset shifts the OFDM symbol by half a carrier spacing.For example, in LTE, subcarrier spacing is 15 kHz. In such an example,the OFDM symbol would be shifted by 7.5 kHz. As a result the centersubcarrier would be 7.5 kHz as opposed to 0 Hz.

At 440, the transmission device copies and inverts the group of samplesto generate an inverted group of samples. Inverting the group of samplesmay comprise multiplying the group of samples by negative 1 (i.e.inverting the sign of the group of samples). The inverted group ofsamples may be referred to as a cyclic prefix.

At 445, the transmission device prepends the inverted group of samplesto the shifted OFDM symbol to generate an output symbol. The invertedgroup of samples is concatenated to the front of the OFDM symbol as aguard band to protect the OFDM symbol from ISI with other OFDM symbols.

At 450, the transmission device transits, to a receiving device, theoutput signal. The transmission device may transmit, via a radiofrequency, the output signal to a receiving device. In one embodiment,at least 435, 440, and 445 are performed in sequential order such that ahalf tone offset is applied to an OFDM symbol prior to a cyclic prefixbeing prepended to the OFDM symbol. Furthermore, process 400 may berepeated for multiple OFDM symbols. In one embodiment, a plurality ofoutput signals may be concatenated and transmitted as a burst.

Numerous specific details are set forth herein to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the claimed subject matter. However, those skilled inthe art will understand that the claimed subject matter may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, methods,apparatuses, or systems that would be known by one of ordinary skillhave not been described in detail so as not to obscure claimed subjectmatter.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, it is appreciated that throughoutthis specification discussions utilizing terms such as “processing,”“computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” and “identifying”,“modifying”, “prepending”, “concatenating”, “converting”, “inverting” orthe like refer to actions or processes of a computing device, such asone or more computers or a similar electronic computing device ordevices, that manipulate or transform data represented as physicalelectronic or magnetic quantities within memories, registers, or otherinformation storage devices, transmission devices, or display devices ofthe computing platform.

While the present subject matter has been described in detail withrespect to specific embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated thatthose skilled in the art, upon attaining an understanding of theforegoing may readily produce alterations to, variations of, andequivalents to such embodiments. Accordingly, it should be understoodthat the present disclosure has been presented for purposes of examplerather than limitation, and does not preclude inclusion of suchmodifications, variations, and/or additions to the present subjectmatter as would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.Indeed, the methods and systems described herein may be embodied in avariety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutionsand changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein maybe made without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. Theaccompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover suchforms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of thepresent disclosure.

Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “could,”“might,” “may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically statedotherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, isgenerally intended to convey that certain examples include, while otherexamples do not include, certain features, elements, and/or steps. Thus,such conditional language is not generally intended to imply thatfeatures, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or moreexamples or that one or more examples necessarily include logic fordeciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether thesefeatures, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed inany particular example.

The terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like aresynonymous and are used inclusively, in an open-ended fashion, and donot exclude additional elements, features, acts, operations, and soforth. Also, the term “or” is used in its inclusive sense (and not inits exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a listof elements, the term “or” means one, some, or all of the elements inthe list. The use of “adapted to” or “configured to” herein is meant asopen and inclusive language that does not foreclose devices adapted toor configured to perform additional tasks or steps. Additionally, theuse of “based on” is meant to be open and inclusive, in that a process,step, calculation, or other action “based on” one or more recitedconditions or values may, in practice, be based on additional conditionsor values beyond those recited. Similarly, the use of “based at least inpart on” is meant to be open and inclusive, in that a process, step,calculation, or other action “based at least in part on” one or morerecited conditions or values may, in practice, be based on additionalconditions or values beyond those recited. Headings, lists, andnumbering included herein are for ease of explanation only and are notmeant to be limiting.

The various features and processes described above may be usedindependently of one another, or may be combined in various ways. Allpossible combinations and sub-combinations are intended to fall withinthe scope of the present disclosure. In addition, certain method orprocess blocks may be omitted in some embodiments. The methods andprocesses described herein are also not limited to any particularsequence, and the blocks or states relating thereto can be performed inother sequences that are appropriate. For example, described blocks orstates may be performed in an order other than that specificallydisclosed, or multiple blocks or states may be combined in a singleblock or state. The example blocks or states may be performed in serial,in parallel, or in some other manner. Blocks or states may be added toor removed from the disclosed examples. Similarly, the example systemsand components described herein may be configured differently thandescribed. For example, elements may be added to, removed from, orrearranged compared to the disclosed examples.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cyclic prefix generation method for wireless communication comprising: receiving an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol that comprises a set of samples that represent a portion of the OFDM symbol; creating a cyclic prefix by prepending a duplicated set of samples to the OFDM symbol to create a prepended OFDM symbol, wherein the duplicated set of samples is a duplication of the set of samples; modifying, by applying a half tone offset, the prepended OFDM symbol to generate a frequency shifted OFDM symbol; and transmitting, to a receiving device, the frequency shifted OFDM symbol.
 2. The cycle prefix generation method for wireless communication of claim 1, wherein the cyclic prefix is at least partially based on an underlying communication system.
 3. The cycle prefix generation method for wireless communication of claim 1, wherein the cyclic prefix is at least partially based on a delay period for a channel of communication between a transmitter and a receiving device.
 4. The cyclic prefix generation method for wireless communication of claim 1, wherein the symbol waveform is associated with one or more sub carriers, wherein each of the one or more sub carriers is associated with a frequency.
 5. The cyclic prefix generation method for wireless communication of claim 1, wherein the receiving device is a device within an Internet of Things (IoT) system.
 6. The cyclic prefix generation method for wireless communication of claim 1, wherein the receiving device is a 5G or Long Term Evolution (LTE) enabled device.
 7. The cyclic prefix generation method for wireless communication of claim 1, wherein the frequency shifted waveform comprises a sample length of x and the portion of the frequency shifted waveform comprises a sample length of y, wherein x is a positive integer and y is a positive integer that is less than x.
 8. A system for generating a cyclic prefix for wireless communication, comprising: one or more processors; and a memory coupled with the one or more processors, the memory configured to store instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to: receive an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol that comprises a set of samples that represent a portion of the OFDM symbol; create a cyclic prefix by prepending a duplicated set of samples to the OFDM symbol to create a prepended OFDM symbol, wherein the duplicated set of samples is a duplication of the set of samples; and modify, by applying a half tone offset, the prepended OFDM symbol to generate a frequency shifted OFDM symbol; and a digital to analog converter that converts the frequency shifted OFDM symbol into an analog signal for transmission to a receiving device.
 9. The system for generating the cyclic prefix for wireless communication of claim 8, wherein the cyclic prefix is at least partially based on an underlying communication system.
 10. The system for generating the cyclic prefix for wireless communication of claim 8, wherein the cyclic prefix is at least partially based on a delay period for a channel of communication between a transmitter and a receiving device.
 11. The system for generating the cyclic prefix for wireless communication of claim 8, further comprising a forward error correction encoder (FEC) that encodes redundancy data into digital data.
 12. The system for generating the cyclic prefix for wireless communication of claim 11, further comprising a modulator that creates the OFDM symbol using the digital data into which the FEC encoded redundancy data.
 13. The system for generating the cyclic prefix for wireless communication of claim 8, wherein the symbol waveform is associated with one or more sub carriers, wherein each of the one or more sub carriers is associated with a frequency.
 14. The system for generating the cyclic prefix for wireless communication of claim 8, wherein the receiving device is a device within an Internet of Things (IoT) system.
 15. The system for generating the cyclic prefix for wireless communication of claim 8, further comprising the receiving device, wherein the receiving device is a 5G or Long Term Evolution (LTE) enabled device.
 16. The system for generating the cyclic prefix for wireless communication of claim 8, wherein the frequency shifted waveform comprises a sample length of x and the portion of the frequency shifted waveform comprises a sample length of y, wherein x is a positive integer and y is a positive integer that is less than x.
 17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions for causing at least one computer system to efficiently generate a cyclic prefix for wireless communication, the instructions comprising: receiving a symbol that comprises a set of samples that represent a portion of the symbol; creating a cyclic prefix by prepending a duplicated set of samples to the symbol to create a prepended symbol, wherein the duplicated set of samples is a duplication of the set of samples; modifying, by applying a half tone offset, the prepended symbol to generate a frequency shifted symbol; and causing the frequency shifted symbol to be transmitted to a receiving device.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the cyclic prefix is at least partially based on an underlying communication system.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the cyclic prefix is at least partially based on a delay period for a channel of communication between a transmitter and a receiving device.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the symbol is an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) signal. 